


Your Smile like the Sun (I want to bathe in it)

by crystalklances



Series: My golden thread is your Smile [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Keith is smitten, M/M, Smitten Keith (Voltron), and kind of more like an insight in his mind? but Lance is present later, at least in a way, he was aware of Lance at the garrison, the smitten is kind of more lowkey than i wanted, this is also lowkey me praising Lance and his beautiful smile
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-22
Updated: 2016-12-22
Packaged: 2018-09-11 05:02:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8954674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crystalklances/pseuds/crystalklances
Summary: Keith had kept mostly to himself at the Garrison, and he didn’t have many good memories - or things worth remembering at all - especially connected to people. But there was one thing that ran like a golden thread through his awareness of his time there. It was… a smile.
  
  He was just walking around, trying to avoid the crowds as he was finding his way around, when he saw it. He met eyes with someone walking past, and the person smiled at him in passing. Keith had to force himself to keep walking because it was just so… dazzling, captivating, making him want to stand there forever to look at that smile, and nothing else.
Keith did not remember Lance, but has always been aware of a certain trait of him.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This was written because I've been feeling terrible mental health wise the past couple of days and wanted to do something selfindulgent. Originally, I wanted to just have mindless smitten!Keith but then this way old idea of mine happened. I still kept the title I thought up though because I like it. In parts this was also me trying to break out of the bit of writer's block that hit me after chapter 3 of _Don't challenge Love_ and trying to start another oneshot idea I've been having for a little while.  
>  It took the entire afternoon to write because I've been feeling tired and a bit feverish. That's also why I haven't checked over it another time. I wanted to post it already though because knowing me otherwise I never would ahaha
> 
> This was written while listening to a couple of Owl City albums. Because they provided the right mood and "smitten vibes". Also Smitten!Keith is what I live for tbh

 

Keith had kept mostly to himself at the Garrison, and he didn’t have many good memories - or things worth remembering at all - especially connected to people. But there was one thing that ran like a golden thread through his awareness of his time there. It wasn’t anything like meaningful conversations, or connected to academics. It was… a smile.

 

And not just any smile: it was one specific smile he saw right on the first day. He was just walking around, trying to avoid the crowds as he was finding his way around, when he saw it. He met eyes with someone walking past, and the person smiled at him in passing. Keith had to force himself to keep walking because it was just so… dazzling, captivating, making him want to stand there forever to look at that smile, and nothing else.

 

After that, he kept encountering the smile all over the place: across the classroom, walking down the hall, at the cafeteria, after simulations. Every day, multiple times when he was really lucky. Every time, he found it hard to look at anything else, wanting to stop time just so he could stare forever. He soon found that the smile felt kind of magical - like he was sitting in a nice spot out on a sunny day. It was bright. It was warm. It was beautiful.

 

But then it was gone.

 

He was kicked out, and suddenly, he was without a purpose, and felt alone and cold inside again. He found himself drawn out to the desert where he found a shack to live in. The cave he found while following the mysterious energy that pulled him in felt soothing, in a way he wasn’t able to understand at the time. But he wasn’t able to stay there all the time. At night, he was left alone to his thoughts.

 

Keith was trying to remember: remember what the person looked like, what their voice sounded like, if they were a boy or a girl, fighter or cargo pilot or something else. No matter how hard he tried though, he was always drawing a blank. All he could recall was the _smile_ , how beautiful it was, and how it had made him feel. But even that, the more time went on, faded away. He couldn’t hold onto it.

 

Then the next thing he knew, he was rescuing Shiro along with three other teens. One of the boys felt vaguely familiar, but once again, Keith wasn’t able to tell _why_. What was so special about that boy - Lance - a former cargo pilot - that he was _aware_ of him but didn’t _remember_?

 

They all went to the cave together. After a string of events, starting with finding a mechanical blue lion, Keith found himself out far away in space along with the group and two aliens - plus a group of mice - from the long-dead planet of Altea. Suddenly, Keith had a purpose again, as the red paladin of Voltron, pilot of the red lion.

 

And he was starting to feel warm inside again.

 

It had started already when standing in front of the blue lion, next to Lance, that familiar feeling returning. And the pieces started falling together from there.

 

On the second day, everyone laughed together after the food fight. The moment he saw Lance turn to him, grinning, it was like Keith’s heart stopped for a moment, only to start beating faster than ever.

 

“I don’t actually hate you right now,” Lance said to him, and Keith found himself wondering if he was just imagining this nostalgic feeling.

 

Keith was drawn to Lance. They clashed a lot at first because they both were competitive teenagers, but there never was malice. And with every time Lance smiled, at the group, at anyone, at anything, at _him_ , Keith realised that this might be what he was looking for during those lonely nights in the desert.

 

Without even knowing when it started, Keith started to smile fondly at Lance. When he was being silly, when he did something cool and boasted about it, or simply when they were sitting together.

 

It wasn’t just a faceless, voiceless smile anymore; that magical smile like the sun belonged to his teammate, his friend. The more he got to know Lance, the more he fell for him. Lance was a ridiculous idiot, but he was also kind, bright, _warm_. He was like the sun and Keith wanted to bathe in his light forever.

 

He never said any of that to Lance. Until one day, when the whole crew was sitting together in the common room to relax and talk. Lance and Hunk, and even Pidge and Shiro, were telling stories from the Garrison, and stories from home. Keith was just listening, until Allura prompted him to tell something too.

 

And so he did: he told about how there had barely ever been anything memorable. He told about the first time he saw that smile - Lance’s smile - how captivating it had been. He told about how warm he felt with each following time. He told about how it was gone when he had to leave the Garrison, told about how sensing the blue lion was like a faint reminder. He told about how he was able to see it up close now and finally being aware about who it belonged to.

 

Keith didn’t care that everyone else would know now too. He wanted Lance to know; and this opportunity had showed itself, so he just had to grasp it.

 

By the end, he was directly looking at Lance, holding his gaze. Lance was staring back at him, mouth slightly open. They sat like this for what felt like an eternity. Keith was aware of the others watching them, waiting in silence. Finally, Lance said quietly: “You… you remembered me after all…?”

 

Keith nodded slowly. “Well… not directly,” he explained. “Back then, I wasn’t aware that it was _you_. I didn’t realise until we were out here.”

 

“So… what does this mean?” Lance asked. Keith wasn’t sure, but his face seemed a mix of confusion and hope.

 

Somewhere in between, everyone else had left with some kind of excuse; but Keith hadn’t really paid them any mind, too focused on Lance.

 

“I like you,” Keith said. “I want to be with you.”

 

Lance didn’t say anything, only giving a smile that was brighter than any Keith had seen on him before. It was breathtaking and Keith didn’t mind the lack of verbal response.

 

It was fine like this. They still had enough time later to talk about what they were now. For now, Keith was happy just bathing in the sunshine that was Lance’s smile.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm on tumblr [@crystalklances](http://crystalklances.tumblr.com)! Feel free to come say hi or yell at me about these two idiots! ~~especially if you too live for smitten!Keith and Lance smiling like the sun~~


End file.
